Method for recovering patient registration

1. A computer-implemented method for updating a first patient registration during a surgical procedure that uses an optical navigation system for optically tracking a patient reference object in a real world space, the surgical procedure including intra-operatively acquiring a first set of image data depicting a region of interest on the patient while the first registration is intact, the region of interest including at least one anatomical landmark, the method comprising:

detecting that the first registration has been lost;

obtaining a second set of image data depicting the region of interest;

identifying a transform based on the first set of image data and the second set of image data; and

applying the identified transform to data points of the first registration to obtain data points for the updated patient registration.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first set of image data and the second set of image data both include:

magnetic resonance (MR) image data of the region of interest; and

three-dimensional (3D) scan data depicting the patient reference object and the region of interest.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein identifying the transform comprises:

performing a surface extraction from the MR image data to generate an MR point cloud;

generating a 3D scanner point cloud of the region of interest and the patient reference object based on the 3D scan data; and

performing surface matching based on the MR point cloud and the 3D scanner point cloud.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising registering the MR point cloud to the 3D scanner point cloud.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one anatomical landmark comprises a surgically created opening on the patient's body.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one anatomical landmark comprises a surgical opening on the patient's skull.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting that the first registration has been lost comprises detecting movement of the patient's head relative to the patient reference object during the surgical procedure.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting that the first registration has been lost comprises detecting movement of the patient reference object with respect to the patient's body.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein detecting that the first registration has been lost comprises detecting a registration error between one or more previously registered virtual objects and corresponding real objects in intra-operatively acquired images.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving a user inputted indication that the first registration has been lost, wherein the obtaining the second set of image data is performed in response to receiving the user inputted indication.

11. A computer-implemented method for updating a first patient registration during a surgical procedure that uses an optical navigation system including a tracking system for optically tracking a patient reference object in a real world space and a 3D scanner for generating 3D scan data, the surgical procedure including intra-operatively acquiring first 3D scan data while the first registration is intact, the first 3D scan data depicting the patient reference object and a region of interest on the patient that includes at least one anatomical landmark, the method comprising:

detecting that the first registration has been lost;

obtaining second 3D scan data depicting the patient reference object and the region of interest;

identifying a transform based on the 3D scan data and the second 3D scan data; and

applying the identified transform to data points of the first registration to obtain data points for the updated patient registration.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one anatomical landmark comprises a surgically created opening on the patient's body.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the at least one anatomical landmark comprises a surgical opening on the patient's skull.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein detecting that the first registration has been lost comprises detecting movement of the patient's head relative to the patient reference object during the surgical operation.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein detecting that the first registration has been lost comprises detecting movement of the patient reference object with respect to the patient's body.

16. The method of claim 11 , wherein detecting that the first registration has been lost comprises detecting a registration error between one or more previously registered virtual objects and corresponding real objects in intra-operatively acquired images.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein identifying the transform comprises determining a transform between a camera space of the tracking system and a coordinate space of the 3D scanner.

18. The method of claim 11 , wherein identifying the transform comprises registering the first 3D scan data to the second 3D scan data.